Friday, March 18, 2005

The Coolest Thing that Happened to Me Today

Note: This is one of those stories (and I have a million of them) that is incredibly exciting to me but will be of interest to approx. 0.5% of the population at large.

It's Friday, and for some of us, that means a Two Martini Lunch, but in Cupcake Land, we decided to make it a two cupcake lunch. So I headed over to the Buttercup Bakeshop, just blocks from my office. I ordered a Golden Buttercup with Chocolate Icing, a Devil Dog Cupcake, and a small chocolate milk "to stay". So I settled in at a little table, and dug my paperback out of my bag. I just started reading Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis, which I happily picked up for Five bucks at The Strand a few weeks ago.A woman walked by my table, pointed to Word Freak and said, "Hey, that's a great book.""Yeah," I said, looking up. "Hey! You're the cupcake lady!" (I couldn't remember her name)."Yes I am," she said."I was just looking at the Buttercup Bakeshop website the other day and I recognize you from the photo. Congratulations! Very yummy cupcakes.""Thank you," she said. I'm guessing she doesn't often get recognized and treated like a celebrity, even within her own shop. Let me here point out that this woman, Jennifer Appel, is indeed famous. Co-founder of the famous Magnolia Bakery in Soho, she left Magnolia to open Buttercup in Midtown and is now in the process of franchising the company. Hey, if I had 400k I'd buy a franchise and open one in Brooklyn, adding the Match-Making component and thus realizing my dream of a Cup Cake/Date Bar in Brooklyn that I first began proposing last summer, to the derision of many friends (MommyCakes, I'm looking in your direction ... L'Ingenue, I seem to recall you were skeptical as well...). Also, Jennifer Appel has been on the Today Show, and if that's not fame, I don't know what is.So, my new friend Jen says, "I met Stefan Fatsis. He's great.""Really?""Yes, I'm good friends with one of the guys in the book. I went with him to a premiere of Word Wars, the new documentary about Scrabble. Stefan Fatsis was there with a bunch of the guys from the book, Matt Graham, [some others I forget now]."'That's so cool. Who's your friend?""Jeremey Franks, he's just mentioned a couple of times. He's not a major character."Anyway, this riveting discussion continued. I thought about asking her, now that we're friends, to spot me 400G to open a franchise, but maybe I'll wait until next time to run into her. Let's recap: I had a conversation with a low-level celebrity who hangs out with other low-level celebrities and Scrabble Freaks. Yes, you can touch me but it will cost you five bucks. How else am I going to raise 400k?

3 comments:

I really want to try her cupcakes! But alas I am in San Francisco. How about I fed-ex you a Citizen Cupcake cupcake and you fed-ex me a Buttercup Bakeshop cupcake? I am interested in trying the devil dog...

Who knows? Maybe a Buttercup Bake Shop franchise will be opening up near you soon. Thanks for the tip about Citizen Cupcake. Those flavors sound totally bitchin'. In the mean time, why don't you take a look at Cupcake Bakery, also in San Francisco.